Wikipedia Biography of RPCV Timothy Crouse by Peru RPCV Hugh Pickens



Wikipedia Biography of RPCV Timothy Crouse by Peru RPCV Hugh Pickens

Timothy Crouse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Timothy Crouse's The Boys on the Bus, with cover artwork by Ralph Steadman.
Timothy Crouse's The Boys on the Bus, with cover artwork by Ralph Steadman.

Timothy Crouse is an American journalist and writer.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Family
* 2 Early Career
* 3 The Boys on the Bus
* 4 Later Work
* 5 References
* 6 External links

[edit] Family

Crouse's attraction to campaign reporters and to the theater had its roots in his father, Russel Crouse, who was career newspaperman and playwright. "The stories he told me of his newspaper days—especially traveling around the country with prankish sports teams—had a fatal tinge of romance about them," said Crouse. [1]

His father's career in the theatre, began in 1928 as an actor in the play Gentlemen of the Press, in which he played Bellflower. He had turned his attention to writing and his first work with his long-time partner Howard Lindsay came in 1934, when the two men revised P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton's book for the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes. "My father and Howard's trademark was a painstaking craftsmanship," says Crouse. "They spent months on an outline for a play, then worked on the dialogue, then rewrote and rewrote until everything was just right." [2]

Crouse got hooked on the theater when he saw Ethel Merman in the Lindsay & Crouse/Irving Berlin musical Call Me Madam when he was four years old. More than fifty years after his father collaborated on the original score, Timothy Crouse's revised libretto of Anything Goes would open on Broadway. [3]

Crouse is the brother of Actress Lindsay Crouse and also the grandson of Pauline Ives and John Erskine (the novelist and former Columbia professor).

[edit] Early Career

Crouse served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco from 1968 to 1969. [4] Returning to the United States he wrote for the Boston Herald before joining the staff of Rolling Stone Magazine where he worked as a contributing editor from 1971 to 1972. [5]

[edit] The Boys on the Bus

Crouse is the author of The Boys on the Bus, a largely critical look at the journalists who covered the 1972 US presidential campaign. As a young Rolling Stone reporter, had been doing music stories but wanted to try his hand at political reporting. At a meeting of Rolling Stone staff in 1972, the only other writer interested in covering the election was Hunter S. Thompson, so Crouse latched onto him. "It only took a few days of riding the bus for me to see that the reporters themselves would make a great story," Crouse said. [6]

Crouse' profiled his collegue legendary writer Hunter S. Thompson in the book. [Thompson] "wrote to provoke, shock, protest and annoy," wrote Crouse. [7]

Crouse also profiled R.W. Apple, the legendary reporter and editor at the New York Time. Reporters "recognized many of their own traits in him, grotesquely magnified. The shock of recognition frightened them. Apple was like them, only more blatant. He openly displayed the faults they tried to hide: the insecurity, the ambitiousness, the name-dropping" and "the weakness for powerful men." [8]

David Broder and Robert Novak are also profiled in the book.

In the book, Crouse coins the term pack journalism. "The press likes to demonstrate its power by destroying lightweights, and pack journalism is never more doughty and complacent than when the pack has tacitly agreed that a candidate is a joke." [9]

[edit] Later Work

After The Boys on the Bus, Crouse became the Washington columnist for Esquire Magazine and also wrote articles for The New Yorker and The Village Voice. [10]

In 1982 Crouse conceived the idea of reviving Anything Goes. He co-authored a new libretto for the musical with John Weidman that opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on October 19, 1987, and ran for 784 performances. They re-ordered the musical numbers, borrowing Cole Porter pieces from other Porter shows, a practice which the composer often engaged in. ("Easy To Love" was from the 1936 movie Born to Dance.) In 2002 the musical was produced at the Royal National Theatre in London. [11]

In 2000 Alfred A. Knopf published Crouse and Luc Brébion's translation of Nobel-prize winner Roger Martin du Gard’s nearly 800 page memoir Lieutenant-Colonel de Maumort. [12]

Crouse has been working on fiction for the past several years and his story Sphinxes appeared in the Spring, 2003 issue of Zeotrope Magazine. [13]

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a3133.asp?pntvs=1&
2. ^ http://www.donshewey.com/theater_articles/anything_goes.html
3. ^ http://www.donshewey.com/theater_articles/anything_goes.html
4. ^ http://peacecorpswriters.org/pages/depts/resources/bibliog/bibc.html
5. ^ http://history.enotes.com/1970-government-politics-american-decades-ps/boys-bus
6. ^ http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a3133.asp?pntvs=1&
7. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/books/21hunter.html?ex=1186891200&en=f6cbc480339d3cc9&ei=5070
8. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/nyregion/05applecnd.html?ex=1317614400&en=7e231b4a0234f616&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
9. ^ http://jillandhal.home.att.net/halqn/t_crous2.htm
10. ^ http://www.randomhouse.com/randomhouse/publicity/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780812968200&view=pr
11. ^ http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a3133.asp?pntvs=1&
12. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/01/23/reviews/000123.23sturrot.html
13. ^ http://www.all-story.com/issues.cgi?show=back

[edit] External links

* Interview with Timothy Crouse
* PBS interview with Crouse
* Jonathon Yardley reviews Boys on the Bus for the Washington Post

Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: August, 2007; Peace Corps Morocco; Directory of Morocco RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Morocco RPCVs; Politics; Journalism; RPCV Hugh Pickens (Peru); Wikipedia; Creative Commons

When this story was posted in August 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

---

Senator Dodd's Peace Corps Hearings Read PCOL's executive summary of Senator Chris Dodd's hearings on July 25 on the Peace Corps Volunteer Empowerment Act and why Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter does not believe the bill would contribute to an improved Peace Corps while four other RPCV witnesses do. Highlights of the hearings included Dodd's questioning of Tschetter on political meetings at Peace Corps Headquarters and the Inspector General's testimony on the re-opening of the Walter Poirier III investigation.

---

---

Paul Theroux: Peace Corps Writer Paul Theroux began by writing about the life he knew in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. His first first three novels are set in Africa and two of his later novels recast his Peace Corps tour as fiction. Read about how Theroux involved himself with rebel politicians, was expelled from Malawi, and how the Peace Corps tried to ruin him financially in John Coyne's analysis and appreciation of one of the greatest American writers of his generation (who also happens to be an RPCV).

---

August 4, 2007: This Month's Top Stories Peace Corps reopens Guinea Program 19 Jul China beating US in public diplomacy 4 Aug Shalala continues fight for wounded soldiers 4 Aug Sue Hilderbrand's goal is stopping funding for Iraq war 3 Aug Matthew Barison went from Uzbekistan to Romania 2 Aug Peter Chilson writes "Disturbance-Loving Species" 31 Jul An RPCV remembers Texas Tower Tragedy 29 Jul Daniel Balluff films documentaries on Niger 28 Jul Renewing the Bond of Trust with PCVs 27 Jul Carol Bellamy to chair Fair Labor Foundation 25 Jul Delay in Julia Campbell trial 24 Jul PCV Brian writes: Secondary Projects - First Priority 23 Jul Dodd says no easy election for Democrats in 2008 22 Jul John Smart writes: Bush's palace in Iraq 20 Jul Bill Moyers eulogizes Lady Bird Johnson 15 Jul Social Justice ranks high on Dan Weinberg’s agenda 15 Jul PCV Tait writes: Good-bye to my village 14 Jul Amy Smith organizes Development Design Summit 13 Jul Cameron Quinn to head PC Third Goal Office 11 Jul Josh Yardley brought Red Sox to Burkina Faso 11 Jul James Rupert writes: Islamabad's Red Mosque 11 Jul Sarah Chayes writes: NATO didn't lose Afghanistan 10 Jul

---

Dodd issues call for National Service Standing on the steps of the Nashua City Hall where JFK kicked off his campaign in 1960, Presidential Candidate Chris Dodd issued a call for National Service. "Like thousands of others, I heard President Kennedy's words and a short time later joined the Peace Corps." Dodd said his goal is to see 40 million people volunteering in some form or another by 2020. "We have an appetite for service. We like to be asked to roll up our sleeves and make a contribution," he said. "We haven't been asked in a long time."

---

July 9, 2007: This Month's Top Stories O'Hanlon says "soft partition" occurring in Iraq 9 Jul Eric R. Green writes on coming oil crisis 8 Jul Why Dodd joined the Peace Corps 5 Jul Jim Doyle positioned for third term 5 Jul Michael Adlerstein to direct UN Master Plan 3 Jul Shalala says Veterans report will be solution driven 1 Jul Blackwill says: No process will make up for stupidity 30 Jun Allan Reed creates a Diaspora Skills Transfer Program 29 Jun State Dept apology ends hold on Green nomination 28 Jun Call for stories to celebrate PC 50th Anniversary 25 Jun Michael Shereikis is singer and guitarist for Chopteeth 25 Jun Christopher R. Hill Visits North Korea 22 Jun Tschetter at JFK Bust Unveiling Ceremony 21 Jun Kiribati too risky for PCVs 17 Jun James Rupert writes: US calls for free Pakistani elections 17 Jun Colin Cowherd says PCVs are losers 7 Jun Tony Hall Warns of Food Shortages in North Korea 7 Jun Youth Theatre performs Spencer Smith's "Voices from Chernobyl" 7 Jun Ifugao names forest park after Julia Campbell 6 Jun Anissa Paulsen assembles "The Many Colors of Islam" 5 Jun Obituary for Nepal RPCV Loret Miller Ruppe 2 Jun Forty PCVS to arrive in Ethiopia 2 Jun

---

Public diplomacy rests on sound public policy When President Kennedy spoke of "a long twilight struggle," and challenged the country to "ask not," he signaled that the Cold War was the challenge and framework defining US foreign policy. The current challenge is not a struggle against a totalitarian foe. It is not a battle against an enemy called "Islamofascism." From these false assumptions flow false choices, including the false choice between law enforcement and war. Instead, law enforcement and military force both must be essential instruments, along with diplomacy, including public diplomacy. But public diplomacy rests on policy, and to begin with, the policy must be sound. Read more.

---

Ambassador revokes clearance for PC Director A post made on PCOL from volunteers in Tanzania alleges that Ambassador Retzer has acted improperly in revoking the country clearance of Country Director Christine Djondo. A statement from Peace Corps' Press Office says that the Peace Corps strongly disagrees with the ambassador’s decision. On June 8 the White House announced that Retzer is being replaced as Ambassador. Latest: Senator Dodd has placed a hold on Mark Green's nomination to be Ambassador to Tanzania.

---

June 1, 2007: This Month's Top Stories Returned Volunteers and Staff honor Warren Wiggins 15 May Tom Seligman curates "Art of Being Tuareg" 26 May PCV Marilyn Foss dies in China 25 May Poet Susan Rich writes: The Women of Kismayo 22 May Christopher Hill considers visit to North Korea 18 May Peter Hessler talks about time in Fuling as PCV 18 May Murder charges filed in death of PCV Julia Campbell 17 May David Pitts claims JFK offered PC to Lem Billings 16 May Niki Tsongas announces candidacy for Congress 16 May James Rupert writes: Pakistanis talk of Musharraf's departure 16 May Chris Matthews writes: Jerry Falwell's Political Legacy 15 May Ron Tschetter visits volunteers in Botswana 14 May Which assignment to take? Africa, Europe, or Central Asia 14 May Willy Volk writes: New way to keep mosquitoes at bay 14 May Jim Walsh takes special interest in Nepal 13 May NPCA offers podcasts of social entrepreneurs 10 May Gaddi Vasquez showcases food aid work in Central America 10 May Donna Tabor dreamed up Cafe Chavalos 8 May Tom Bissell writing book about Jesus' 13 Apostles 8 May Jody Olsen praises PCV blogging 7 May PC responds to missing volunteers in 2001 and 2007 2 May

---

Peace Corps Funnies A PCV writing home? Our editor hard at work? Take a look at our Peace Corps Funnies and Peace Corps Cartoons and see why Peace Corps Volunteers say that sometimes a touch of levity can be one of the best ways of dealing with frustrations in the field. Read what RPCVs say about the lighter side of life in the Peace Corps and see why irreverent observations can often contain more than a grain of truth. We'll supply the photos. You supply the captions.

---

PCOL serves half million PCOL's readership for April exceeded 525,000 visitors - a 50% increase over last year. This year also saw the advent of a new web site: Peace Corps News that together with the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps serve 17,000 RPCVs, Staff, and Friends of the Peace Corps every day. Thanks for making PCOL your source of news for the Peace Corps community. Read more.

---

Suspect confesses in murder of PCV Search parties in the Philippines discovered the body of Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell near Barangay Batad, Banaue town on April 17. Director Tschetter expressed his sorrow at learning the news. “Julia was a proud member of the Peace Corps family, and she contributed greatly to the lives of Filipino citizens in Donsol, Sorsogon, where she served,” he said. Latest: Suspect Juan Duntugan admits to killing Campbell. Leave your thoughts and condolences .

---

Warren Wiggins: Architect of the Peace Corps Warren Wiggins, who died at 84 on April 13, became one of the architects of the Peace Corps in 1961 when his paper, "A Towering Task," landed in the lap of Sargent Shriver, just as Shriver was trying to figure out how to turn the Peace Corps into a working federal department. Shriver was electrified by the treatise, which urged the agency to act boldly. Read Mr. Wiggins' obituary and biography, take an opportunity to read the original document that shaped the Peace Corps' mission, and read John Coyne's special issue commemorating "A Towering Task."

---

The Peace Corps Library The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory or leave a message on our Bulletin Board. New: Sign up to receive our free Monthly Magazine by email, research the History of the Peace Corps, or sign up for a daily news summary of Peace Corps stories. FAQ: Visit our FAQ for more information about PCOL.

---

He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor.

Read the stories and leave your comments.